


Cleaning Up

by CuriousHoney



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 12:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19888183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriousHoney/pseuds/CuriousHoney
Summary: As Tai cleans the house for his daughter and her new girlfriend visiting, he reminiscences on the past worried about meeting Blake, knowing what happened before.





	Cleaning Up

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I didn't have time to do all of Bumbleby week but I did at least write one short story for it! This fic is for Day 2 of Bumbleby week.

Tai had spent about an entire week cleaning the house for his daughter and her girlfriend coming in from Kuo Kuana. He started with the kitchen, cleaning every nook and cranny of the place until it looked brand new. By the time he finished the kitchen, it smelled of lemon spray and bleach. Then he took to the living room, vacuuming the carpet, washing the windows, dusting every book, sweeping the floor, and finally fixing the couches and throw pillows. Just those two rooms themselves took at least 4 days to complete. It didn’t help that Tai had taken naps and breaks in between until it was dark and he decided to just call it a day. 

The next few days he spent cleaning up the girl’s rooms and the bathrooms. The bathrooms were done fairly quickly, especially since he is the only one who uses them anymore. Ruby’s room was a mess, as usual. Tai hadn’t been into any of the girls’ rooms since they left a few months back. Walking into Ruby’s room was almost a wake-up call that he would see both his girls again soon. Ruby promised to return home a few days after Yang and Blake had shown. She was helping out in Atlas with her friend Weiss, the last he heard of her and that it was going to take a couple of days. Tai got to work on Ruby’s room to save all of her things and put them back into the place they should be. As he picks up one of Ruby’s old shirts, Zwei walks into the room with his tail wagging and a toy in his mouth.

“Come on, Zwei,” Tai grabs the toy from Zwei’s mouth, the dog responding with his tail wagging faster than before, “I have to clean.” He says as he chucks the toy out of the room. He can hear the toy bounce on the stairs and the patter of Zwei’s feet distance itself. Knowing the dog was going to come back, Tai quickly picked up the rest of Ruby’s clothes on the floor and put them into the hamper.  
Ruby’s room shouldn’t have taken long but he kept finding old toys, pictures, and items that belonged to Ruby. His youngest daughter who had done so many incredible things these past few years. He can’t believe that she is twenty now. How time passed so quickly. Once finished with Ruby’s room, he begrudgingly shuts her door, looking at the old rock band poster taped to the wood. He turns away to face Yang’s room.  
Yang was going to be here tomorrow with her girlfriend, Blake. He knew nothing of the girl beside what Yang had cried to him about when she had her nightmares. He opens Yang’s door to see that room is still relatively cleaned from when Yang last stayed here. He just needed to dust and sweep by the look of it. That didn’t stop the job from taking almost an entire day. Half the time Tai spent sitting on Yang’s bed and stressing about this girlfriend of hers. 

He wasn’t proud of it, but from what he knew of her so far, she didn’t seem likable. It didn’t help that his relationship with Raven kept coming into mind when he thought of Blake. He can hear Yang now, the way she cried when she had another nightmare about the man who mutilated her. How she couldn’t even feel safe in her own house where she grew up. Sometimes Tai would catch her glancing out the window in quick flashes. That month after she came back was a rough one. One filled with frustration and worry for his daughter’s physical and mental health. 

Tai went to doctors to ask about how to deal with PTSD and what he can do to help her. There wasn’t much that he could that he already hadn’t done. He had given Yang her space and when she wanted comfort he was there to provide. He pretended like everything was normal and that nothing changed. It took a while for Yang to get back into her charismatic self. To be fair, it was hard to feel normal when you could see that something was missing. But she was a trooper, a strong girl, and she pushed through better than Tai could have ever expected. 

They had good days and bad days. Yang would have fits of anger and frustration. When she tried to help Tai do the dishes she dropped a plate by accident and went into a fury. Cursing the man who did this, Adam, Tai could never forget his name after that day. He never mentioned him to Yang, however. He’s been trying his best to pretend like he doesn’t exist.  
She also struggled with the most peculiar things. Tai remembers walking down the hallway and seeing all the books in Yang’s room thrown out on the floor. He remembers this as he now dusts her restocked bookshelf filled with storybooks and magazines. Tai had asked Yang about the books at dinner one night. She didn’t respond and Tai didn’t want to push her but he could tell, thanks to that night, that there was more to Yang’s pain. He altered the house and hid all the books in a trunk. Yang had noticed but never said anything about the missing books.

She told him one night around 3 am after another nightmare. He held her as if she were a child again, well at the time she was still a child, and kissed the top of her head as she opened up about everything. Before then, all he knew was that Yang had lost her arm, he didn’t know how or why he just knew Adam had harmed her. Then he found out that Adam wasn’t really the problem but Blake. Her teammate, partner, and closest friend. She talked about how she saw Blake went missing in the attack and sought out to find her. When she found her, Adam stabbed her and in Yang’s blind fury and goal to save her closest friend, she lost her arm. 

She opened up to liking the girl even more as a friend and seeing her like that broke something in her. Then, in a panicked breath, she expressed how she would do it again to save Blake. That she only wanted to protect her. Hearing that Blake left hurt Yang more than losing her arm. She told Tai that she could get used to not having an arm, that it was hard but she couldn’t change what happened. It was Blake she was upset about. This girl who she lost an arm for had left her when she needed her the most. That was Tai’s first impression of Blake.

The day the two girls showed up, Tai was nervous all around, but not as nervous as Blake was. Tai remembers seeing the girls come up on the driveway, Zwei sitting by his side. At the first sign of company, Zwei barked and ran to greet his old and new friend. Tai didn’t leave the front door, however, as he watched Yang pet Zwei’s head and babytalk the dog. Zwei turned his attention to the other girl, Tai assumed to be Blake. Yang took Blake by the hand and helped her to the house as Zwei happily trailed beside. Yang kept telling Zwei to ‘get down’ or to ‘behave’.

“Do I need to put him away,” Tai asked putting on a smile.

“Oh, no,” Blake had said before Yang got the chance, “It’s okay. I’m just not used to dogs.” Her voice is sweet and almost motherly to Tai’s surprise. 

“Dad,” Yang’s smile was bright and she hugged Tai, patting her robotic arm against his back. She pulls away for Tai to see the happiness dancing in her eyes. “This is Blake.” She outstretches a hand to beckon the girl closer. Blake smiles but even he can see how nervous she was.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Xiao-Long,” Blake extends a hand and Tai gladly takes it.

“You don’t have to be so formal, call me Tai.” 

“Oh… Oh okay!” She seemed to wince at her own excitement and Tai couldn’t help but chuckle. He welcomed them into the house, Yang whistles as she looks around the place.

“You sure cleaned up dad. It’s almost like we weren’t here to trash the place.”

“Yeah, well, with you both coming back I figured I would take some time to see the house in its glory before it gets destroyed again.” Yang laughs and even Blake smiles as she looks around the place, hands folded in front of her. 

They sat in the living room, catching up on everything that has happened. Tai was close to retiring and he planned on taking the time to take a vacation. Yang kept coming up with suggestions on what he could do. Blake never speaks and instead watches the two with interest. After a while of conversing and catching up Blake asks where the bathroom is. Tai directs her upstairs and she leaves the two alone. 

“She seems nice,” Tai relaxes into his recliner.

“She is. She’s incredible.” 

Tai watches Yang carefully as she sips her cup of coffee. He clears his throat to get her attention. 

“Hey, so… how are you two? I know you had a few years to work things out but…” 

Yang places her coffee cup down. She leans back in her chair, relaxing as Tai had done, and smiles. “Yeah. Everything’s good.”

“I don’t mean to question Blake’s character or anything-”

“I know.”

“It’s just-... well, your old man hasn’t been kept in the loop-”

“Dad-”

“And you were off saving the world and I hadn’t seen you girls in so long beside when you both came in October-”

“Dad?”

“I just wanted to make sure that everything is okay and that you’re taking care of yourself-”

“Blake and I talked it out,” Tai stops talking and looks at his daughter. She’s determined and confident, a smug smile on her face. “We’ve been through a lot. I wouldn’t even know where to start with catching you up on everything but I’ll get there. You don’t have to worry about Blake.”

“Alright, it’s just… god, the last time you talked about her, I mean besides when you visited a few months ago, you were so upset.”

“Dad,” Yang stopped him once more, “I am okay. We’re okay. We’re protecting each other. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“I can’t help but worry, I’m your father.”

“I know and I love you but I promise everything is okay. I promise.” Tai takes a deep breath and nods his head. Yang looks up to the stairs with a curious look. She gets up from her chair, stretching her arms above her head.

“I’m going to check on Blake. See what’s taking her. Be back,” she winks before racing up the stairs calling ‘Blake’. Her girlfriend responds instantly. Tai sits in his seat for a few minutes, waiting. After a while of the girls not coming back down he worried that they were distracted with other things. He gets up from his seat and walks up the stairs to find Yang’s door was open. He heard the girl’s quietly laughing and speaking to each other. Tai peeks in noticing the two’s backs turned to the door. Blake is holding onto one of Yang’s books as Yang is searching through her drawers. 

“He honestly needs to get rid of all these clothes,” Yang holds up an old tank top, “God, my fashion sense sucked back then.” Blake only chuckled, putting the book she held back. 

“I see you were an avid reader, considering you don’t like reading.”

“Nah, those were all for Ruby.”

“Oh,” Blake looks back to the shelf, “I remember that. You said you read to her a lot.”

“All the time. I was the best storyteller,” Yang folds her arms over her chest, a smirk resting playfully on her lips. 

“I’m sure you are,” Blake shakes her head as she gazes out the window. “Yang?”

“Yes, beautiful?”

“Does he like me?” Tai felt his stomach twist slightly. Should he say something? Should he go back downstairs and pretend like he wasn’t eavesdropping. It didn’t matter because before he could make a decision, Yang laughs.  
“Why are you laughing?”

“Blake, of course, he likes you. He just doesn’t know you yet. My dad doesn’t hate or dislike people. I don’t think I ever heard the words come out of his mouth. When we were little he would forbid us to even say the word ‘hate’. ” 

“I guess I can’t help but worry,” Blake smiles, “I mean you were worried to meet my parents.”

“Yeah,” Yang rubs the back of her head, “I was. I got over it pretty quickly though. Your dad is a riot.” 

“The worst thing is is that if our parents meet, we’re going to have three people telling terrible dad jokes. I don’t know if I could take it.”

“As my dad always says, they grow on you. Watch, you’ll be making dad jokes in no time.”

“Not in your dreams,” Blake laughs then kisses Yang on the cheek. Yang pulls Blake in by the waist and the two stare out the window in silence. Now, Tai can leave. He carefully steps downstairs and picks up the cups on the table to wash. Feeling a little bit better about a lot of things, especially his daughter. She truly seemed happy.


End file.
